Hobart and William Smith Colleges

20 March 2014 Acclaimed Poet Willis Launches Trias Series

The Trias Series recently kicked off its spring semester line-up with a reading from poet Elizabeth Willis. Students, faculty and community guests crowded the Hirschson Ballroom for the critically-acclaimed writers presentation.

Willis shared poetry from latest publication, Address (2011), as well as from her other collection, Meteoric Flowers (2006), which has been praised by critics such as poet-scholar Susan Howe and the Jacket magazine. Her reading also included various recent and unpublished poems that offered insight into Williss creative process.

Piotr Sommer, this years Trias Writer-In Residence, introduced Willis, saying, What I admire about her is her total unobtrusiveness, her being only what a poem needs and allows. She knows how to fulfill languages unclear expectations.

The event concluded with a question-and-answer session, in which engaged audience members to further their understanding of Willis poetic approach. Several students interested in poetry and linguistics were able to discuss methods of composition with Willis and gain insight into her creative decisions. Earlier in the day, Willis also attended the Colleges Advanced Poetry Workshop to lead a discussion with students on her collection Address.

It was exciting to hear her talk about her use of things like punctuation, because it is inspiring what I do with my own work, says Meredith Groman 15, a student in the workshop.

Willis is the author of five books of poetry, including Address, Meteoric Flowers, Turneresque (2003), The Human Abstract (1995) and Second Law (1993). She has received numerous prestigious awards and honors for her writing, such as the 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship award, a Walter N. Thayer Fellowship for the Arts, a grant from the California Arts Council, a fellowship from the Howard Foundation and a residency at the MacDowell Colony.

Williss visit to HWS is thanks to the Trias Residency for Writers, which is supported by The Peter Trias Endowed Fund for Poetry and Creative Writing. This fund was established through a generous bequest from Peter J. Trias 70. Trias graduated from Hobart with a bachelors degree in English and went on to earn his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers Workshop in 1972. In 1976, he published a collection of poems, The House in Venice.

This years Trias Writer-in-Residence poet Piotr Sommer is participating in a one-year residency on campus, working with the Colleges best student writers and offering public readings and lectures.

More information regarding The Trias Residency for Writers may be found at: www.hws.edu/trias. Upcoming Dates for the Trias Speakers Series are as follows:

Wednesday, March 26: Will Alexander will present Vertigo Borders: A Reading and a Talk at 7:30 p.m in the Blackwell Room.

Wednesday, April 2: Joshua Beckman will deliver a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m in the Hirschson Ballroom.